Payback
by Julia Starfish
Summary: Someone is murdering patients at Community General Hospital, the gang need to find out who it is before someone else dies. plus Jack's back. this is my first fanfic so please review.i don't own any of the characters from DM but i do own the ones i created
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The corridors of Community General Hospital were abnormally quiet that night. Though it had been extremely busy and chaotic that day it had thankfully settled down and not a single patient had been admitted since then.

The doctors and nurses on-call that night were either strolling down the neon lit corridors or else catching up on some much needed sleep. In all it couldn't have been a better night to be working.

In room 225 Samuel Thomas was beginning to stir as the effects of the anaesthetic began to wear off. Cracking open his heavy eyelids he was greeted by total darkness and a dull pain in his side. Blinking it took him a few seconds to get used to the darkness and remember where he was. Trying to sit up he winced as pain shot through his side and he remembered that he had just had his appendix removed. Cursing silently under his breath Samuel settled back down into bed, still exhausted by the operation. Closing his eyes he allowed himself to slowly slip into unconsciousness.

Samuel's eyes suddenly sprang back open and he felt panicked but knew not why. He didn't know how long he had been asleep for but something had awoken him. Heart racing he tried to make sense of the darkness before him but could see nothing, so instead he had to rely on his hearing to pick up any sounds. But there was nothing just silence. Taking in a deep breath and repressing the shudder spreading down his spine Samuel took once last strained look around the darkness and decided that he had probably been having a nightmare and had thought it was real.

He was about to go back to sleep when he suddenly heard the shuffling of feet and a pillow was brought down on his face.

Taken completely by surprise Samuel yelled out but his cries were muffled by the pillow and no one but his attacker could hear him. Samuel lashed out with his arms ignoring the pain in his side. His hands connected with skin and he began to claw at his attacker's arms but still the pillow did not move.

His attacker held the pillow in place ignoring the scratching of his arms. Eventually the scratching got weaker and after a few moments ceased completely. Removing the pillow the attacker looked down at his victim and smiled at his success. Placing the pillow under the head of the victim the attacker silently left the room.

Half an hour later the door to room 225 is once again opened and Anthony Parker creeps into the room. Seeing that the patient is asleep he starts searching through the person's belongings and successfully finds a 24 carat gold watch and a wallet containing $100. Grinning he creeps back out of the room.

Throwing his finds into his rucksack Anthony Parker does not notice the nurse behind him at the other end of the corridor watching him suspiciously. As he stalks off towards the elevator she decides to go check in on the patient.

Switching on the light of room 225 she moves over to the still body in the bed and gently removes the covers from the person's face. She gasps as she notices the blue skin and quickly turns to the heart monitor only to find that it has been switched off. Turning back to the body in the bed she checks for a pulse and on finding none calls a CODE BLUE.

Doctors rush to the scene but there is nothing the can do.

Samuel Thomas is pronounced dead at 12:20pm.


	2. Chapter 2

Dr. Jack Stewart walked into the reception area of Community General Hospital. It looked just like he had remembered it. He couldn't wait to see his old friends Dr. Amanda Bentley, Dr. Mark Sloan and Lt. Steve Sloan again. He smiled as he imagined their surprised faces when they found out that he had turned up out of the blue, it had been so long since he had last seen them.

Jack strolled into the doctor's lounge where Mark was sitting reading a newspaper.

"Well hello Dr. Sloan." Jack called out in a business like tone, "Long time no see."

Mark swiveled around in his seat, a smile widening across his face, "Jack, my dear friend. How are you? When did you get back?" Mark shook the hand of his best friend and patted him on the back.

"Yesterday" Jack replied, "I've finally been able to get some time off work and I thought I'd come up and visit you all. Where are Amanda and Steve?"

"Well Amanda is in the Path Lab as usual", Mark said happily pulling up a chair for Jack, "And Steve's actually at home, he's got a day off and…"

But Mark was unable to finish as just at that moment there was a loud squeal from behind them and someone yelling "Jack" in a high pitched voice. Turning around Mark saw Amanda rush in through the door and bound up to Jack giving him a huge hug.

"Jack" she said again excitedly, "When did you get back? How are you? How long are you here for?"

"Hi Amanda" Jack said laughing, "I'm fine, I got here yesterday and I'm here for a week. And how are you?"

"Oh I'm good" Amanda answered sitting down, "CJ and Dion are great too, they'll be really happy to see you."

Ten minutes later Dr. Jesse Travis entered the Doctor's lounge to find his two friends, Amanda and Mark having a hearty conversation with a man he had never seen before.

"Um, hi Mark, Amanda" Jesse said shyly.

"Hi Jesse" Mark said seeing his young friend walk towards them. "Jesse, I want you to meet a good friend of mine, this is Dr. Jack Stewart" he said gesturing towards Jack. "Jack this is Dr. Jesse Travis."

"Oh, so you're the infamous Jack Stewart I've heard so much about" Jesse said jokingly, "How are you?"

"I'm fine" Jack said, he was a little peeved that this young doctor had

interrupted his reunion with his friends.

"Hey Amanda, did you find out anything about how Samuel Thomas may have died?" Jesse asked, oblivious to Jack's seething glares.

"Oh yeah" Amanda replied, a little dazed. "I completely forgot when I saw Jack. Um, yes, I carried out the autopsy this morning."

She opened up a folder, which had been sitting forgotten on the table. "Let's see, well the on-call doctor last night believed that he had just stopped breathing during the night. Apparently Thomas had suffered breathing problems before and also suffered from asthma. He had had an operation yesterday to remove his appendix and they had been worried about putting him under the anaesthetic but the operation had been a success. However last night when he stopped breathing they decided it must have been a side effect to the anaesthetic."

"I suppose its possible," said Mark thoughtfully, "Rare but possible."

"Well, I thought so too, but on carrying out my autopsy I found that Thomas had cotton fibres in his mouth and on his lungs," Amanda stated, "Which leads me to think that he may have been smothered."

"So you think he was murdered," Jesse said, "But why?"

"I don't know," Amanda said sadly, "Anyway I've got to get this report sent down to the police station. No doubt they will be carrying out an investigation here soon."

"Right" agreed Mark, "I'd better get on the phone to Steve and find out what he's doing."

And with that Mark, Amanda and Jesse left, leaving Jack sitting forgotten in the Doctor's lounge.

************

Lt. Steve Sloan entered Room 225 annoyed. Of all the days for a homicide investigation it had to be on his day off. This was just typical he thought.

"Right" he ordered, "I want a thorough search of the room and find out if anyone saw anything suspicious last night at around the time of the murder. And will someone get rid of that damn paparazzi, this is a murder scene for God's sake, why don't people ever show a bit of Decorum!"

"Ahhh, is that the angry voice of Lieutenant Steve Sloan I hear?" a voice said behind Steve.

Grinning Steve turned around, "Jack", he said giving his friend a quick hug, "What are you doing here?"

"You know what; you're the third person to ask me that today. Can't a guy visit his friends if he wants to without getting the third degree?" Jack said smiling.

"Ha, true" Steve replied, "So have you heard what happened?"

"Yeah, Amanda was telling us this morning how the guy had been smothered."

"Hmmm, we'd better go and find them" Steve said walking out of the room. "Hey, it's good to have you back Jack."

************


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"According to one of the eye-witness accounts, from one of the nurses on duty that night, a young man aged between 20 and 25, 5.8ft and slim, wearing a blue baseball hat and black puffa jacket was seen coming out of Thomas' room at around 12pm." Steve informed Mark, Amanda, Jesse and Jack as they sat at one of the round tables in the staff room, listening intently to Steve's recount of the murder investigation so far. "Security footage shows the man leaving the hospital car park in a small white car. We were able to get a view of the number plate and tracing it on the system we were able to discern that the car belongs to a Nick Ary. Ary had reported his vehicle stolen last night. We've put out an APB on the car and now all we can do is wait", Steve finished with a huff.

A silence now filled the room as the others processed this information, and then all at once Jesse, Amanda and Mark began talking rapidly, discussing possible motives and conspiracies. Jack sat back in his chair, remembering fondly how he used to do the same thing all those years ago, and now this Jesse character had taken his place! Jack glared at Jesse, who at that moment looked up, smiled nervously and quickly looked away.

The eager chattering was suddenly paused by a ringing phone and five pairs of hands began patting their pockets in search of the source. "Mine!" Steve announced, flipping his mobile phone open. "Sloan." There was a pause whilst Steve listened to the voice at the other end of the line, "OK, I'll be there in ten minutes" he replied, "I've got to go" Steve said to the others as he stood up and grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair. "They've found the stolen vehicle parked outside a motel. The landlord said it belongs to an Anthony Parker, who is renting one of the rooms. My team is there now preparing to arrest him so I'd better get down there. I'll see you later" Steve said as he rushed out of the room.

"Well another mystery solved" Amanda said smiling as she collected the papers of Thomas' autopsy report together, ready to be filed away.

"Yep" Jesse agreed, glancing at his watch, "Well I'd better be going too. I'm supposed to be on rounds", he added guiltily as he strolled out.

"So Jack you still haven't told us about how the new job is going" said Mark happily. "Shall we go get a coffee and you can tell us all about it?"

And Jack, glad that he was finally alone with his two best friends was more than happy to agree.

* * *

Steve pulled up at the motel, and after being told where the perpetrator was located, he made his way up the stairs to the first floor landing. His backup team was already outside Room 12 waiting for Steve to give the order. Pulling out his handgun, Steve silently walked up to Room 12 and listened at the door. He could make out sounds of a TV, and signalling to his team to get ready, he then yelled "Parker! This is the police, open up!"

From inside came the sound of breaking glass, and with no signs of the door about to be opened voluntarily Steve motioned to one of his team to break the door down. "Why can't they ever just cooperate for once" he thought as he bounded into the living room and found Parker with one leg through the back window, trying to escape. "I wouldn't do that, if I were you" Steve said, aiming his gun at the young man. The man appeared to deliberate whether attempting to escape or risk getting shot was the way to go, and deciding that it wasn't worth it he climbed back into the room.

Steve read Parker his rights whilst cuffing him and then an officer led Parker to the police van to be driven to the station. Steve and two others stayed behind to search the room. Looking around Steve could understand why business for the landlord was slow, and why the landlord was so intent that his team did not cause a scene and scare away the few customers the landlord actually had. The room was grotty, the faded yellow wallpaper peeling away in places from the wall, and the linoleum covering the floor had seen better days. The room was furnished with a double bed, chest of drawers, wardrobe, and a side table. Near the window Parker had tried to escape from was a door leading to a small dirty bathroom. On a positive note, the simple furnishing meant that Steve soon found the young man's wallet with his driver's license, correctly identifying him as Anthony Parker, 24 years old. One of the officers also found a red rucksack containing Samuel Thomas' wallet. "Looks like we've got our man" Steve said to the others, "I'd better get down to the station. If you find anything else let me know."

***********

"I swear I didn't kill the guy" Parker repeated for the fiftieth time, "He must have been dead before I got there!"

Steve rolled his eyes, "Parker you were the only one seen leaving the room at the time of the murder. You had his belongings in your flat. All the evidence points to you!"

"But I'm telling you I didn't do it!" Parker pleaded, "I'm not a killer! I know I've stolen stuff, but I'd never kill anyone for it. Please, you've got to believe me!"

"Unfortunately, until we get further evidence to suggest otherwise, I'm afraid I'm going to have to detain you" Steve told the now teary-eyed prisoner. Steve turned off the tape recorder and left the interview room. He did not entirely believe that the weedy looking man sitting with his head in his hands at the table was the murderer they were looking for. For one thing he did not think Parker had the strength to kill a man, but then Thomas had just come out of surgery, so he would have been an easy target. But for now Parker was the main suspect.

* * *

Have finally updated the story...with not one but two chapters....and im on a bit of a roll now, so will hopefully actually finish it this time...with no more crazy year long gaps in between.

i hope you enjoy it....and please let me know what you think! :)


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Jesse picked up the stack of patient charts that were waiting for him at the ER reception desk, and turned to visit his first patient when suddenly Norman Briggs appeared out of nowhere, making Jesse jump and almost drop his charts. "Dr Travis" Norman said cheerfully, "Just the man I wanted to see!" Jesse smiled wearily at the man. "We have a new doctor who has transferred from Portland. I need you to show him around for a few days while he settles in."

"But I have a ton of patients to see…" Jesse began, however Norman interrupted him, acting as though he hadn't heard, "Excellent Dr Travis, now if you'll just follow me..." And before Jesse could react, Norman was pulling him towards his office, where a tall young man with dark brown hair and brown eyes hidden behind a pair of spectacles was sitting nervously at Norman's desk.

"Dr Allday, this is Dr Travis," Norman said to the young man, "Dr Travis will be showing you around and if you have any problems just let him know. Good! Right, I must be off, I'll see you soon ," Norman called as he disappeared down the corridor.

Dr Allday smiled nervously at Jesse. "He's a bit full on, but he's all right really" Jesse said with a laugh. "I'm Jesse" he added shaking the man's hand. "I'm David" Allday replied, "Thanks for showing me around, I can see you must be busy" he said, pointing at the stack of charts Jesse was holding.

"Oh, don't worry about that" Jesse replied, "In fact, you can give me a hand with them" and he led Allday down the corridor to see the first patient.

**********

Jack walked through the door of BBQ Bob's for the first time and after looking around for 10 minutes, he turned to Steve and said "This place is amazing! I never thought you were the restaurant business type to be honest".

"I wasn't sure either at first" Steve replied laughing, "But after the bomb incident, Jesse and I just though screw it, let's go into business, and we ended up with this place. Its hard work, but I love it!" Steve said, looking around proudly.

"Jesse's your partner?!" Jack asked shocked.

"Yeah", Steve said absentmindedly, "All down to mine and Jesse's love of all things meat" he added laughing. Mark and Amanda who were sitting at the bar also laughed at this remark.

Jack sat down next to Mark, as Steve went into the kitchen to prepare dinner. Jack could not believe what he was hearing. He had not realised Steve and Jesse were such good friends. It really did feel like they had all just moved on and forgotten him. And he was starting to dislike Jesse even more now, even bordering on hating him. Jack knew he was being childish, but it just seemed that every time he wanted to be with his old friends, Jesse would turn up one way or another and….

"Hello guys" Jesse called happily as he entered the restaurant, bringing Jack out of his thoughts.

"Typical" Jack mumbled.

"What was that?" Mark asked.

"Oh, nothing, I was just clearing my throat" Jack replied glaring at Jesse as he walked behind the bar to get a drink.

"Jack what do you think of the restaurant?" Jesse asked smiling. Mark knew Jesse well enough to know he was trying to get Jack's approval, and Jack's half-hearted "It's alright" obviously disappointed Jesse, whose smile faltered. But Jesse quickly recovered and hiding his disappointment told the others about the new doctor.

Jack glanced at his watch. It was 11.30pm and they were still at BBQ Bob's. Everyone had had their fill of spare ribs and chips and after hearing about nearly all of Mark, Amanda and Jesse's crime solving adventures, Jack had had enough and was ready to leave. He did not want to hear another word of how Steve and Jesse had become cowboys for the day, and standing up he said, "Right, I'd better be off, it's pretty late".

"Oh, I hadn't realised what the time was" Mark exclaimed, looking at his watch, "Sorry Jack, we've been talking about everything that's happened these past few years we haven't had a chance to hear what you've been up to".

"Hey, don't worry about it", Jack replied, "It's not your fault" he added, briefly glaring at Jesse. "Goodnight" he called as he left.

"I don't think he likes me" Jesse said downcast, when Jack had left.

"Don't be silly Jess" Mark replied patting the young man on the shoulder as he stood up to clear the plates away, "He has no reason not to!"

"Yeah, you're probably right" Jesse said but he was still doubtful.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"So how are you finding Community so far?" Jesse asked Allday, as they went about Jesse's rounds for the day.

"It's really good actually" Allday replied smiling, "Everyone has been really friendly, and can I just say I really appreciate you helping me out."

"Oh, that's ok" Jesse said, "You wouldn't believe the amount of help I had when I first started out" he added laughing. "Right, let's see" Jesse said, consulting his first chart, "Room 200, George West". Jesse led the way into the room. A small 8 year old boy was sitting on the bed watching a cartoon on the TV. Sitting on a chair by the bed was his mother, who looked up at the two doctors as they entered. Her eyes were bloodshot and she had obviously been crying. Allday saw that the young boy had been beaten, his eye swollen and his lip split, and a nasty cut on his arm.

"Hello George" Jesse said kindly, ". George, how are you feeling today?" Jesse asked as he shone a light in George's eyes.

"Ok I suppose" George replied, clearly more interested in the cartoon. Mrs West sniffled and dabbed at her eyes. Jesse checked George's breathing, and then the cut on his arm. "Right George, we'll get that cut cleaned up for you, and then you can pick some cool stickers to put on your bandage. Would you like that?" Jesse asked.

"Oh yes please" George replied smiling, "Do you have any disnosaur ones?"

"I'm sure we do" Jesse said laughing, "I'll get a nurse to come and you can see what we have".

"Thank you Doctor" Mrs West said quietly from her seat and Jesse nodded with a smile, he could see she was still trying to hold back the tears.

"What happened to him?" Allday asked when they had left the room. Jesse looked through the open door, to where George sat watching the TV whilst the nurse wrapped a white bandage around the cut on his arm.

"He was beaten up at school" Jesse said sadly, "Apparently he has been having problems with bullies for a while, but the school was not doing anything about it. But I'm sure they will now! It always takes someone to get physically hurt before people will see what's already right in front of them! Poor Mrs West" Jesse added still looking into the room.

Sighing, Jesse turned around to face Allday, and was shocked to find him shaking. "Are you ok?" Jesse asked worried.

"I just can't stand bullies!" Allday said furiously. "They think they have a right to do whatever they like, they can beat someone up, humiliate them, and never face the consequences! God I hate it!" and he stormed off, leaving Jesse staring after him dumbfounded.

* * *

Swearing Jack wrapped a towel around his waist and dripping water on the floor of his rented flat, hurried over to the front door. 'Who ever was knocking like a crazy person was going to get a piece of his mind!' he thought as he unlocked the door and opened it. Standing on the other side holding a brown paper bag was none other than Steve, who on seeing Jack soaking wet began to laugh uncontrollably.

"It is NOT funny!" Jack said angrily, "Would it kill you to perhaps warn me that you are coming round so I know not to get in the shower next time!"

"Ha Ha Ha, Oh man, I'm sorry" Steve said trying to control his laughter, "But you should have seen your face!"

Jack mumbled something, which Steve was pretty sure was an Italian swear word, as he walked into the bedroom to get changed. Steve shut the front door, flopped onto the sofa and grabbing the remote, turned on the TV. "So I thought we could hang out today" he yelled to the closed door of the bedroom, "I've got the day off, and brought some beers and chips, and there's a game on in five minutes!"

Jack now dry, dressed and calm came back into the living room, "Sounds good to me" he said, glad to be able to spend the day with his friend without any interruptions from Jesse.

* * *

Jesse found Allday by the reception desk with the charts of Jesse's next patient in his hands. "Jesse, I'm sorry about earlier" he said "I don't know what came over me," he added staring miserably at the ground.

Jesse always being one to easily forgive and forget said, "That's alright, I understand. It can be very distressing. Are you ok to still help me out with my rounds?"

Allday smiled "Yeah" he said, "I've got them here", he handed over the charts to Jesse and they made their way to the next patient.

"Good afternoon Mr Bernard" Jesse said as they went into Room 212. A young man was lying in bed reading a magazine, his leg was in plaster and in traction, and he looked up as they entered. "I'm Dr Travis and this is my colleague, Dr Allday"

The man seemed to do a double take on Allday, "Allday? David Allday? Is that you? It's me Ethan" he said grinning, "Ha, what a small world!"

Jesse, looked from Bernard to Allday, "Do you know each other?" he asked surprised.

"Yeah" Bernard replied, "We went to school together. Man, he was such a laugh," he said chuckling.

Jesse noticed that Allday was shaking again and his fists were clenched. "So you're a doctor now" Bernard stated oblivious of the way Allday was acting, "Impressive, but I guess you always were a bit of a geek. Not like me, I'm now working on a construction site down town" he said to Jesse, "Broke my leg, falling off a ladder. So have you kept in contact with anyone else from Lincoln?" Bernard now said addressing Allday.

Jesse noticed Allday take a deep breath before he answered, "No, I haven't." and Jesse could hear the venom in his voice.

Bernard however did not notice this and continued talking, "Yeah it's a mighty shame what happened to Jones, Dean and Lane. They were my best mates but they're dead now, Jones was the last to pass away, murdered at the hospital back home just last month" he said to Jesse sadly, "They never did find the guy who killed him." Bernard looked down at his hands.

"That's awful" Jesse said sympathetically. "Yeah" Bernard replied, "Smothered with his own pillows" Bernard sighed, "Anyway, sorry for bringing the tone down, it still gets to me." Bernard faced Allday again, "We had some good times we did, remember graduation night? Man you were hilarious! We…"

But Bernard was interrupted by Allday who had flung the charts he was holding on the floor and rushed out of the room. Bernard looked at Jesse surprised, "Woah, I thought he would have gotten over it by now," he said to Jesse.

"Over what?" Jesse asked confused by Allday's behaviour.

"The prank" Bernard replied, "It even made the Lincoln High paper" he added with a small smile, remembering his high school days.

* * *

Jesse found Allday sitting on one of the sofas in the empty staff room, head in hands.

"Hey, are you alright?" Jesse asked.

"Leave me alone," Allday said without looking up. Jesse noticed he was still trembling.

"What happened at your graduation?" Jesse continued cautiously, "It couldn't have been that bad, I mean…"

"I said leave me ALONE!" Allday shouted, and without warning, he leapt off the sofa and rushed at Jesse, slamming him into the wall and knocking the breath out of him. "You have no idea what you are talking about! What I've been through!" Allday hissed to a dazed Jesse, "So keep out of my business! I'm not weak anymore!" and he shoved Jesse against the wall once more and then stormed out of the staff room, bumping into Mark on the way out. "Ooof, Sorry, I…" said Mark, but Allday was already half way down the corridor. "Well he doesn't seem in a good mood" Mark said to himself as he stepped into the staff room, "Jesse!" he exclaimed suddenly, seeing his friend standing bewildered by the wall, rubbing his shoulder. "Jess, are you ok?" he asked worried, "What happened?"

Jesse looked up confused, but relieved to see Mark, "I don't know. He was just so angry. I…" Jesse faltered, and Mark seeing that he was distressed, led Jesse to a chair and brought him over a glass of water. "So what happened Jesse?" Mark asked.

"I'm not sure, we had just been to see one of my patients, and it turned out they knew each other," Jesse said, "The guy was talking about their school days, and all of a sudden Allday just stormed out of the room. I came to find him and see if he was ok, and he just got angry and he..." Jesse paused; he did not want to get Allday in trouble by admitting that he had pushed Jesse against the wall. After all, Jesse thought, he was sure Allday had not meant to act that way, "he got angry and left, and then you came in" Jesse finished, and looked down at the table, he hated lying to Mark, but he did not want Mark to worry.

Mark watched as Jesse picked up the glass of water with trembling hands. "Hmmm, OK Jesse" Mark said, he knew Jesse was holding something back, but he did not want to force Jesse to say more, "If you're sure that's all that happened," he added and Jesse nodded, his eyes still not meeting Mark's.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

That evening in Mark's beach house, Amanda, Jesse, Jack and Steve were all waiting patiently for Mark to serve up his Wednesday night dinner surprise. "I wonder what it will be this time?" Amanda said thoughtfully.

"Well as long as there's meat I'm happy" Jesse said hungrily. He was feeling considerably better since the afternoon.

Amanda laughed, "Honestly you and your meat obsession!" she said, "And how was your football day boys?" she said addressing Steve and Jack.

"It was good" Jack replied, "Naturally my team won!" he added grinning and Steve grunted in disgust.

"Dinner is served!" Mark announced entering the dining room, with a casserole dish in his oven-gloved hands. He set the dish on the table and lifted the lid to reveal a thick beef and potato stew.

"Looks great!" Jesse exclaimed, holding out his plate for his first serving, and soon all five were tucking into their meal.

"Dad, that was delicious!" Steve said, wiping the last bit of stew on his plate with a piece of bread and eating it.

"Well, son I figured after your 3rd helping that it had gone down well" Mark replied laughing.

"Yes it definitely was one of the best Wednesday dinner surprises we've had so far" Amanda said smiling.

"So Steve has there been any progress with the Thomas case yet?" asked Jesse finally pushing his empty plate away from him.

"No, we've had no new leads, and Parker's lawyers are appealing for bail release in the meantime and as we've got no solid evidence to keep him locked up, he'll probably be out again in the next few days!" Steve said frowning.

After a brief discussion about the Thomas case, the conversation turned rather randomly to surfing and being Jesse's forte he was keen to tell the others about an offshore wind that was heading their way, meaning great conditions for surfing.

"Yeah I may have to see if I can book a morning off and check it out, it's been ages since I've been on a board" Jesse said thoughtfully, "Geez I remember the last time I was out, there was this…" but he was interrupted by Jack who had stood up and had started clearing the plates and taking them into the kitchen.

"Jack! I'll do that" said Mark, not wanting his guests to have to tidy up. "Oh it's alright" replied Jack from the kitchen, but Mark got up none-the-less, "Sorry Jess" he said and followed Jack into the kitchen with the empty casserole pot.

"Well I'd better call Debra quickly and just check on how the kids are" Amanda said also getting up and headed into the living room.

Jesse stared at the three empty seats, 'was his story that boring?' He thought to himself. Steve was now clearing the remaining plates and he too had walked into the kitchen, leaving Jesse wondering again if Jack really did have a problem with him.

Mark got up and turned on the stereo, an instrumental jazz piece drifted from the speakers and the gang lay back into the sofas having just eaten dessert and feeling content. All except for Jesse; who had not been able to relax since dinner. He knew Mark would probably think that he was just over-reacting but he needed to speak to Jack and find out once and for all what the problem was. After a few minutes Jack said he was just going to make a quick phone call and he headed out onto the balcony. Jesse seeing his chance, followed Jack and waited until he was off the phone.

"Hey Jack" Jesse said when Jack had finally ended his phone conversation. Jack turned towards Jesse and could not help but roll his eyes, "Yes?" he replied with a sigh."Could I just have a quick word with you?"

Jack continued to stare at Jesse with an air of someone who was deeply bored. "Well.." Jesse continued slightly nervous now, "I- um- I just wanted to ask if….well…Jack do you have a problem with me?" he finally said in a rush, " It's just you've been really weird every time I see you, you always look like you're pissed off with me, and I mean today, was I boring you with my conversation? Because it certainly seemed that way, I just don't understand what I've done wrong?" Jesse ended looking up at Jack expectantly.

Jack stared at him and frowned. 'What was wrong with this guy?' he thought, he was beginning to get seriously fed up with Jesse, and the more he looked at Jesse watching him, waiting for some sort of answer, the more angry he felt, and suddenly he couldn't take it anymore, "Yes!" Jack hissed, "I do have a friggin problem with you! I come back to visit my friends and there you are…_all_ _the time_! Don't you have anywhere else to go? You can't just leave us alone for one second so we can catch up just the 4 of us, like it used to be?" Jack spat.

Jesse recoiled under the words, he had not been expecting this and Jack could see the hurt that now filled Jesse's blue eyes. "I – I'm sorry" Jesse said quietly, "I didn't realise…I'll – I'll just go, I'm sorry if I've ruined your holiday," he said and he turned back to the house leaving Jack feeling thoroughly guilty at what he had done.

After a few minutes Jack joined the others in the living room, Mark informed him that Jesse had had to leave as he had an early shift tomorrow morning and needed to get some rest, and despite the guilt Jack felt, he was also secretly glad that he could finally just hang out with his friends.

* * *

Ethan Bernard could not get comfortable. He desperately wanted to turn on his side but his suspended leg meant he could not move. Glancing at the clock on the bedside table he saw that it was 1:05am and he groaned, it was so late and he was so tired. 'Maybe he could call a nurse?' he thought, as he attempted to plump up his pillows. Settling back down Ethan became aware of a shadow in the corner of his room. Ethan squinted through the darkness trying to make out what it was, but it was so dark in the room; he suppressed a shudder, feeling nervous, 'Oh this is ridiculous' he thought and he reached towards the lamp switch on the table. Suddenly out of the corner of his eye he saw the shadow move and the next moment someone was standing over him, a hand quickly slammed over his mouth preventing him from yelling out. A pillow was pulled out from under Ethan's head and as his head fell back down onto the mattress the hand slipped from his mouth and for a brief second he looked up into the face of his killer, "You?" he gasped horrified, before the pillow was pushed onto his face

* * *

*****So finally another chapter! I apologise for how slowly this story is progressing but to those of you who asked, yes more chapters will be added and I will be finishing this story eventually!

Ended this one on a bit of a cliffhanger! Wait till you read the next chapter! and yes I know most of you have probably guessed by now who the killer is, perhaps I have made it very obvious lol, but thats ok cos our heroes still need to figure it out and they haven't had as many clues as you guys have :) Peace out x. **********


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Jesse yawned as he walked along the corridor to the staff room. He hadn't slept too well last night after the conversation he'd had with Jack and he wasn't sure how he was going to act when he saw Mark and the others. Turning the corner he came across two policemen standing outside room 212, yellow tape across the door read 'Police Crime Scene', and confused Jesse approached room. "What's going on?" he asked.

"There has been another murder" one of the policemen informed him. "Smothered early this morning."

"What?" Jesse said loudly, "He was my patient! How could this have happened again?"

"Jesse?" a voice called from inside the room, and Steve appeared at the door.

"Steve what happened?" Jesse asked quickly.

"Let's go to Dad's office, he's waiting to hear about this too." Steve replied making his way towards Mark's office.

They entered the office and Jesse was anxious to find that Jack was also present, sitting in one of the chairs opposite Mark's desk. Amanda occupied the other chair. Avoiding eye contact with Jack, Jesse sat down on the sofa by the wall.

"Steve, what is going on?" Mark said straightaway.

"We believe the victim, Ethan Bernard, was murdered at about 1 this morning from the report Amanda gave us. He was also smothered by his own pillow. No fingerprints have been found in the room so we think he was wearing gloves." Steve said matter-of-factly. "And as Parker was locked up in a police cell last night that rules him out. So we are back to the beginning with this case."

"Have you not found any leads at all?" Jack asked.

"Well the only connection we have between Bernard and Thomas was that they went to the same high school, other than that we have nothing. This guy has been good at covering up his tracks; we haven't been able to find anything so far." Steve replied frustrated. "Anyway I'd better get back to the crime scene, see if forensics has come up with anything there."

Mark watched as his son left the room. He knew his son must be feeling defeated at the moment and he wanted to offer words of encouragement but with no hard evidence it looked like this killer was going to get away.

"There must be something we're missing" he said to himself.

"Mark I'm sure Steve will find something soon" Amanda said consolingly, "Besides we need to get going Norman is expecting us in that meeting."

"Oh yes" Mark said half-heartedly, "Hospital routine still goes on as usual despite a few murders in our corridors." And he and Amanda left leaving Jack and Jesse alone.

Jack had not expected to see him again so soon after last night let alone to be left in a room with him and he awkwardly looked up at Jesse, "Jesse…" he began, but Jesse did not seem to have heard him, he was just staring into space frowning, deep in thought. "Jess, are you alri…."

"I need to check something" Jesse suddenly said standing up. "Can you tell Mark to meet me in Amanda's office" and he rushed out of the room, leaving Jack staring after him bewildered.

* * *

Jesse stared at the computer screen dumb-founded. He had been hoping he was wrong, but here it was the connection between the murders.

"I know who the killer is" he whispered to the empty room.

"Well that's just too bad" a voice replied. Jesse jumped out of his seat and spun round to find Allday standing behind him, with a clear view of the incriminating evidence on the computer screen.

"Dr. Allday! I didn't know you were there!" Jesse gasped, "I…I was just playing a…a murder mystery game online." he said with a nervous laugh, moving slightly in front of the computer to hide the screen.

"I don't think so Jesse" Allday said quietly as took a pair of disposable latex gloves out of his lab coat pocket and began pulling them on. "I think you have been snooping around my business and I think that you know that I killed Thomas and Bernard and now you are going to tell you're little friend Steve all about it."

"No…I…" Jesse faltered, he glanced at the side door, "I was just…" and he suddenly darted forwards towards the door. But Allday was quicker and he moved in front of him, blocking his way and with a powerful shove threw Jesse against the desk. Jesse heard a crack as his chest connected hard with the edge of the desk and he gasped with pain. His chest felt on fire and he knew one or two ribs must be broken.

Allday watched as Jesse, clutching his side, struggled to stand up straight. "I'm sorry Jesse, but you can't leave" he said walking slowly towards him. Jesse backed up against the wall terrified, Allday stood in front of him, and then before he could react, Allday punched him in the chest causing Jesse to moan and grasp his chest. Allday continued to punch him until Jesse had slid down the wall and was sitting on the ground dazed blood seeping from his nose and the corner of his mouth. Allday stepped back, his latex gloves specked with drops of blood. He walked back to the desk and Jesse saw through tear filled eyes that Allday was deleting the internet search history and then pull the computer cable plug out of its socket causing the computer screen to go black. Allday picked up a heavy metal paperweight that was on top of a pile of loose papers, he noticed that the paperweight was a model of the world, the countries etched into the stainless steel surface. He walked back to Jesse who was still on the ground knees drawn up to his chest. Allday considered Jesse for a moment and then he raised the paperweight in his hand, "Goodbye Jesse".

Jesse looked up to see the paperweight, grasped by Allday, come crashing down towards him and he suddenly recognised it to be the gift he had bought Amanda when she had given birth to her son. He smiled softly at the memory and then a moment's pain and then everything went black as the paperweight smashed into the side of his head.

Allday watched as Jesse crumpled to the floor, blood trickling from the cut caused by the paperweight. He could hear a quiet wheezing breath coming from Jesse's inanimate body and he raised the bloodstained paperweight once more, when he suddenly heard the voices of Mark and Amanda their footsteps getting louder as they approached the office. Dropping the paperweight Allday gave Jesse one final kick in the chest and then sprinted out of the room through the side door, just as Mark and Amanda entered through the main doors.

"I wonder what Jesse wanted to tell...Oh my God! Jesse!" Amanda screamed rushing over to his still body.

* * *

*****There you go, two chapters in one night! Hope you like them and let me know what you think!**********


	8. Chapter 8

It was quiet in the staff room, except for the occasional sob from Amanda, her eyes puffy from crying, and the soft footsteps of Steve as he paced the room. Jack was staring out of the window at the buildings surrounding General Hospital, lost in thought. It had been four hours since they had found Jesse and he had been quickly rushed to surgery, Mark insisting that he assisted. Apart from the paperweight that had been covered in Jesse's blood, Steve and his team had been unable to find any incriminating fingerprints. The main difficulties being that the attacker had obviously been wearing gloves, hence the lack of prints on the weapon, but also Amanda's office was used so often and was not only covered in her prints but also with other doctors', nurses' and even police officers' that had ever entered the autopsy room.

After a little while Mark finally walked into the staff room, wiping his brow as he sat wearily down onto a chair opposite Amanda.

"Mark" Amanda said hoarsely, gripping the arms of her chair "How is he?"

Steve had stopped pacing when his father had entered the room and he now stared at his dad, waiting for his answer. Jack walked up behind Amanda and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Well it was a bit touch and go" Mark said, his voice sounded tired, "His heart stopped at one point and we had to use the defibrillators. I thought for a moment that he was going to…" Mark took a deep breath and continued, "We managed to stabilise him. He was very badly beaten, 3 ribs had been broken and there were cuts on his chest and arms that needed to be stitched up. The injury to his head was the worse, we stitched that up too but we can't be sure of the damage an injury like may have caused yet. We're still waiting for him to wake up" Mark finished looking down at his hands; hands that had worked tirelessly to save his friend.

A tear rolled down Amanda's cheek and Jack felt her tremble under his hand.

"ARGH!" Steve yelled suddenly, kicking a chair to the floor in his anger, "When I find the son of a bitch who did this I'm going to…"

But Steve was interrupted by a nurse who had just walked through the door. She looked frightened as she stared from Steve to the toppled over chair.

"Vicky, what is it?" Mark asked, snapping Vicky out of her stupor.

"Oh, yes, you asked to hear any news about Jesse?"

"Yes?" Mark, Amanda, Jack and Steve said in unison.

"He's awake."

* * *

The group walked through the door of room 202 and Amanda gasped in horror. Jesse's arms were covered in black and blue bruises and several cuts gleamed red against his pale skin and they knew the bruises continued down his blanket covered body. His chest was wrapped in white bandage and his blond hair spilled over the top of a bandage wound around his forehead. There were also bruises to his face, and his lip was cut and swollen.

'He looks so small' Jack thought as he followed the others to stand around Jesse's bed. 'How could I have yelled at him the way I had?'

"How are you feeling?" Amanda asked with a gentle smile.

"Like I've been hit by a bus" Jesse groaned, wincing in pain as he tried to sit up. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure" Mark said.

"Who am I?"

* * *

Amanda gasped and Steve stood with his mouth open in shock.

"_Jesse_" Mark said hoarsely, "Your name is Jesse Travis. You're a doctor here at Community General Hospital." Mark watched sadly as Jesse tried to process this information.

"I'm a doctor?" Jesse asked surprised. "But what happened to me?" he glanced down at his battered body.

"You were attacked" Steve managed to say calmly, "Do you know who did this to you?"

"I was attacked?" Jesse said quietly, "Why? What did I do?"

"You didn't do anything honey," Amanda said tearfully.

"Jesse can't you remember anything about the attack?" Steve persisted.

"I…" Jesse tried to think back, a frown playing across his features, his eyes revealing his struggle to remember. He unconsciously lifted a hand towards his forehead, his fingers brushing against the bandage covering the cut. "I can't…..it's just all black. I can't remember anything." Mark could see the terror building up behind those blue eyes.

"It's OK Jesse, don't worry. This is just a side effect from the injury sustained to your head. You'll remember soon enough. You just need to rest now; I'll get the nurse to give you something to help you sleep."

Jesse looked up into Mark's kind face and felt reassured. "Thank you, ummm…"

"Mark. My name is Mark and this is my son Steve and our friends Amanda and Jack. We are all here for you Jesse, you can trust us."

"OK" Jesse said with a small smile as he took in each of their faces, "Thanks."

"We'll see you soon, OK Jesse," Amanda said squeezing his hand, "Get some rest."

"And if you remember anything Jesse, anything at all, let me know," Steve said, "Day or night."

A nurse came in carrying a glass of water and a small cup containing two tablets.

"Here you go dear. These will help you sleep," she said handing Jesse the pills. Jesse swallowed them down with the water and after a few minutes he began to feel tired. Mark and the others watched as Jesse drifted off to sleep and then they made their way out of the room. Mark left the room first and bumped into Allday who had been standing just outside the door.

"Ooof, sorry" Mark said.

"That's OK, Dr. Sloane isn't it?" Allday asked smiling, "How is he?"

"He's doing well, his injuries are severe but he'll survive."

"I can't believe anyone would want to hurt him," Allday said faking concern, "Has he said who it was?"

"No, he can't remember a thing" Steve said angrily, he felt frustrated that he couldn't do anything to help. Jesse was his only lead on who the attacker was.

"Oh dear" Allday said and Mark thought he saw Allday's shoulders relax a little, "That is bad news. He is such a good person too. He helped me out when I moved down here, showed me around the ER. Hopefully they'll catch whoever did this to him."

"Yeah" Steve said, "I can guarantee you I will find the bastard who did this to him" Steve snarled as he stomped down the corridor towards Mark's office.

"Sorry" Mark said, "It's been a long day and I think we're all a bit stressed and tired."

"Yeah" Allday said, "Of course. I hope he recovers soon."

Mark nodded and he, Amanda and Jack followed after Steve.

Allday watched as they disappeared around the corner and then took a look inside room 202 at Jesse's sleeping form. He needed to get rid of Jesse before he remembered anything, and turning on his heel he walked away, already planning his next move.


	9. Chapter 9

Mark, Steve, Amanda and Jack were sitting around the dinner table at Mark's house. No one had really touched their food, Amanda was prodding the chicken on her plate with a fork, whilst Steve sat with his head in his hands. He hated not being able to do anything. Apart from posting a cop at Jesse's door for protection there was nothing else he could do at the moment. They were still waiting for forensics to get back to him about their investigation in Amanda's lab.

"I should probably go" Amanda finally said, "The babysitter has already stayed an extra couple of hours."

"Of course Amanda, don't worry, if we hear anything we'll let you know right away," Mark said standing up with Amanda.

"Bye Jack, Steve," she said with a tremor in her voice. Mark followed her to the front door.

"Oh Mark," Amanda said hugging him, tears threatening to fall again.

"I know Amanda, but everything will be OK. Try and get some rest. You'll see him again tomorrow." Mark said patting her on the back.

Amanda nodded and left, waving back when she had reached her car. Mark waited till she had driven off before closing the door and finally returning to the table.

"Where's Steve?" Mark asked seeing Steve's vacant chair.

"He said he needed to get a bit of fresh air," Jack said staring at his plate.

Mark nodded and began clearing away the plates. "He'll be OK you know," he said to Jack and he placed a comforting hand on Jack's shoulder.

"Thanks Mark" Jack said his voice strained, "I think I may go for a walk too if that's OK?"

"Yeah, sure" Mark said as he walked into the kitchen.

* * *

Jack stepped outside and felt the cool air across his face. He hadn't really spoken much since the incident and it was mainly because he felt so guilty. He had been so horrible to Jesse. 'And why?' he thought, 'Because he was jealous? He kicked at a pebble as he trudged through the sand. He had acted like a spoiled brat, not wanting to share his friends. He hadn't even given Jesse a chance, didn't bother to get to know him, and now he was seriously hurt, might even have died!'

Jack needed to do something, anything, to ease the guilt that was building up inside him. He needed to go and see Jesse, he didn't know why, or what he would say, except maybe apologise? Making his mind up he headed back to Mark's house and went round the front to where his rented car was parked. They didn't need to know where he was going he thought as he drove towards the hospital.

* * *

Jesse tossed and turned in his bed. He was having a nightmare. He was being chased by dark shadows through a dimly lit corridor. Suddenly he was on the ground, backed up against a wall and punches and kicks rained down upon him. He tried to protect himself, wrapping his arms around his head, but it was too much, the pain unbearable, he felt like he was going to die. And then suddenly it stopped. He dared to uncover his head and looked up. Someone was standing above him. A dark shape – no face – and it was holding a metal ball, a steel model of the world, and then the shadow spoke: "Goodbye Jesse," and the ball came hurtling down towards him-

Jesse woke up gasping. He was covered in a cold sweat and his body ached. It took him a moment to remember where he was. That doctor – Mark was it? – said he had been attacked and he was at Community General Hospital. His heart was no longer beating so hard against his chest and his breathing had begun to return to normal. It was dark in his room, the blinds at the windows closed, and the clock on the bedside table showed that it was just gone 10pm. Jesse thought back to his nightmare. It had been so real- could it be that that was how he'd been hurt? He tried to remember the details but they were quickly disappearing, like trying to hold water in cupped hands, but for it to trickle through your fingers anyway.

Jesse turned his head towards the door and it was then, with a gasp, that he noticed there was someone watching him. A dark shadow whose polished shoes glinted in the faint light seeping in from under the door.

"Wh- who are you?" Jesse stuttered, squinting to see the person better.

"Jesse, Jesse, Jesse," the man said in a deep voice, "So glad that you're awake."

Jesse stared at the man for a moment and then reached towards the bedside table and fumbled with the lamp switch. The room was suddenly lit up with a warm glow and now Jesse could see the man standing by the door. He was tall with dark brown hair and brown eyes hidden behind a pair of spectacles and he was wearing a doctor's white coat.

"Oh," Jesse breathed a sigh of relief, "You're a doctor. I'm having a bit of trouble sleeping, is there anything you can give me for the pain?"

The doctor stared at him with a strange look on his face that made Jesse feel nervous. The man smiled and walked towards Jesse.

"Yes Jesse," he said, "I do have something to help you sleep." And suddenly before Jesse knew what was happening the doctor had rushed up to him and punched his injured chest, causing him to twist in pain, his bandaged ribs felt on fire. The doctor quickly pulled a pillow out from under Jesse's head and held it above a dazed Jesse.

Jesse looked at the man's face, his eyes wet with tears from the pain and a memory flashed in his mind – a dark shadow holding a metal paperweight.

"Goodbye Jesse," the doctor said bringing the pillow down towards Jesse's face. And then suddenly it was like a firework had gone off in Jesse's mind. The dark shadow suddenly had a face - this doctor's face – Allday's face – saying 'Goodbye Jesse', and then the pillow was pushed down onto his face, cutting off his air supply.

Jesse yelled into the pillow and kicked out with his legs, his fingers clawing at Allday's arms, trying to free himself from the pillow, to get one breath of fresh air.

But it was no use, he was getting tired, his movements weaker, and he began to feel light-headed.

* * *

Jack walked up the corridor towards Jesse's room. He still wasn't entirely sure why he was here or what he was going to say to Jesse. In fact at this time Jesse was most probably asleep anyway. But he just couldn't stay at Mark's any longer with the guilt eating away at him. He turned the corner and saw Jesse's room, with a vacant chair stationed outside. Where was the office that was meant to be on duty? He was sure Steve had said they had put someone at the door for the night. As Jack thought about this he suddenly heard something from inside Jesse's room. It sounded like glass breaking and he hurriedly pushed the door open and was met by an awful sight.

A man was holding a pillow over Jesse's face, smothering him! He could see from the weak movements Jesse's arms were making that he was running out of oxygen.

"OI!" Jack yelled rushing at the man, "Get away from him!" and he grabbed the man by the shoulders and threw him to the floor. Turning to Jesse he tore the pillow off his face. Jesse was barely breathing.

"You bastard!" Jack growled spinning around to face the man. But Allday had already gotten up and he darted forwards and punched Jack. Jack stumbled back taken by surprise, his jaw on fire where he'd been hit.

"Oh hell no," he snarled and he rushed at Allday, causing them to both fall to the floor. And both men began fighting each other – punching and kicking.

* * *

Jesse was slowly recovering. His lungs filling with the oxygen that only moments ago had been starved of. He felt nauseous and dizzy and when he cracked open his eyes the room began to spin. He closed his eyes again, willing the spinning to stop. It was then that he became aware of a strange noise coming from somewhere in the room. Opening his eyes again he saw two men rolling on the floor by the end of his bed, fighting. One was wearing a white lab coat and then he remembered – Allday! And the other man, it was Jack!

Allday had suddenly overpowered Jack and had rolled on top of him, pinning Jack down. He grabbed Jack's head in both hands and slammed it against the floor. Jack fell limp, dazed, trying to stay conscious as darkness threatened to engulf him.

Jesse watched as Jack struggled to lift his head. Allday took his opportunity to put one of his gloved hands, which were spattered with drops of blood, into his coat pocket and take out a scalpel.

"No," Jesse mouthed, shocked. Allday held the scalpel up, the blade glinting in the lamp light, preparing to bring it down across Jack's throat when…

"NO!" Jesse yelled, grabbing the lamp off the bedside table, he jumped out of bed and ran at Allday. Allday taken by surprise by the yell instinctively turned round, scalpel still held up, to see the base of the lamp come flying down at him. The lamp connected with his head and he fell to the ground unconscious, blood trickling down from his hair line.

Jesse fell to his knees exhausted, his breathing heavy. "Jack?" he croaked his voice raw from having yelled into the pillow before. Jack slowly sat up, his head throbbing and he looked over at Allday's prone form. He thought that was the end when he saw Allday holding the scalpel, ready to stab him with it – but Jesse….Jesse had saved him.

"Thank you," he said quietly and he looked up at Jesse who was staring at Jack. Jesse looked tired and in pain but he still managed to smile, "Thank you too," he said, as a group of doctors and nurses came running into the room, pushing a crash cart. Jesse's heart monitor alarm had gone off when the wires had been pulled out when Jesse had jumped out of bed. The group stared down in shock at the scene in front of them for a moment before they swiftly began treating Jesse and Jack.


	10. Chapter 10

Author's Note

Hello readers!

Well you will be pleased to know that the final chapter of this story is finally up! I know it has been an unbelievably long time in the making, and you're probably somewhat surprised as to why I still continued with it. But it has always been on my mind, it just took a little time to put it on paper. But it is finally completed!

So I just wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you for sticking with it, and I hope you're not too disappointed with the ending . And as always please review and let me know what you think.

Cheers,

Julia xxx


	11. Chapter 11

"They found the officer unconscious in the Men's bathroom" Mark said as he and Amanda sat around Jesse's bed. "Allday had followed him in there and had knocked him out."

It was the morning after the attack. Jack was still sleeping in another room, having suffered from concussion. Jesse was feeling much better now that he had regained his memory, and although he was still in pain his appetite had returned and he had wolfed down his breakfast, and was now tucking into a jelly pot.

Allday had been arrested on one count of attacking a police officer, and two counts of attempted murder. And with the evidence that Jesse had found they had a pretty good case against Allday.

"So how did you figure out Allday was the murderer?" Amanda asked.

"Well it was after Steve said that the only connection between Bernard and Thomas was that they went to the same high school – Lincoln High School- and I remembered that Bernard had said that Allday had gone to the same school, and he mentioned a prank that they pulled on the last day," Jesse said, scraping the last bit of jelly out of the pot. "So I searched their names and it came up with an old school newspaper and there was an article about the Graduation Class of 1971. It gave a list of all those graduating, including Bernard, Thomas and Allday. And it also mentioned a prank that Bernard, Thomas and three other friends made on Allday at the graduation after party. Where Allday had been dressed as the Queen of England and tied to the flag pole in the school grounds. There was even a photo taken. The article joked about the incident, saying how pleased they were that the Queen was able to take time out of her busy schedule to come and visit. I then looked up the names of the other three friends, Greg Jones, Lewis Dean and Harry Lane. A news article came up talking about how they men had been murdered at Portland Hospital over a 3 year period. All the victims were smothered but they were unable to find any evidence to make any arrests. Allday had been working at Portland over this time before he transferred here."

"Hmmm, it's still not very watertight evidence, could just be circumstantial," Mark said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I know, but you should have seen Allday when he saw Bernard that day. He was livid." Jesse said.

"Well I guess we'll just have to see what happens, I think Steve is interrogating him now," Mark said.

* * *

"We've seen the article that Jesse pulled up off the internet showing your connection to the victims, and we know you worked at Portland Hospital before transferring here. The police in Portland even sent us a report showing their suspicions that you were the one that murdered the three victims there, but they had no evidence to arrest you," Steve said.

Allday remained silent, staring at the metal table in front of him. They had been in the interview room at the police station for 2 hours now and they had gotten nowhere. Allday hadn't spoken since he had been arrested, and Steve was starting to get frustrated. He was pacing the room to try and stay calm.

"Why did you do it, huh?" Steve questioned. "Couldn't you handle a little fancy dress? Is that it?"

For the first time since Allday had entered the interview room, he looked up, directly at Steve, hate burning in his eyes.

"No," he said quietly, "No, I could not handle that final act of humiliation that those….those sons of bitches did to me!" Allday spat, "For years they bullied me, called me names, threw food at me! WHY? Because I was different? Because I studied hard? What did I do that was so bad that I deserved that HELL they put me through?"

Steve was shocked by this sudden outburst and he noticed Allday was shaking with anger.

"But I kept going. I told the teachers but no one did anything about it. They just told me to ignore them and they would get bored. Yeah, like that ever works! But I got on with my studies. I was determined to make something of myself. To show everyone I wasn't a loser. They were the losers!"

"And I did. I got the grades, I won a scholarship to study medicine. Graduation day was meant to be my proudest moment. All my hard work had paid off, and now I could stand up in front of everyone at the ceremony and show them that I was going places, I was going to be successful."

"And then on my way to the Graduation after party they ambushed me, and dressed me up in that…that _ridiculous_ outfit…..and everyone laughed," Allday said, his hands were gripping the table edge, Steve could hear the despair in his voice. "EVERYONE, even the teachers, and in that moment they stole my last bit of dignity. They took away all my hard work, my efforts. This is what I would be remembered for by all my classmates and teachers. They humiliated me and so I vowed then and there that I would get revenge, I would pay them back for what they did."

Allday paused, thinking back, remembering the heartache and suffering he had gone through.

"And then one day Greg Jones was admitted to Portland with kidney stones. He didn't remember me at first, but he would, they all did in the end." Allday smiled, remembering the satisfaction of watching his old bullies, writhing in their beds terrified of him, "To know that it was me for once instilling the fear, me that had the power!"

"I think we've heard enough," Steve said appalled. "David Allday, I am charging you with five counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder and one count of assaulting a police office. Pete, take him back to his cell please" Steve said as he walked towards the door to leave. Looking back he saw that Allday still had that strange satisfied smile on his face and it sent a shiver up his spine. He would never get used to his job he thought as he went to his desk to fill out the paperwork.

* * *

Two weeks later, Mark and Steve were relaxing on the sun loungers on the veranda. The BBQ was in full swing, with chicken, sausages and burgers sizzling away.

"Hi guys," Amanda said as she came up the steps that led up to the veranda, "I've brought the potato salad as promised," she added holding up a large bowl which she placed on the table. "Where are Jack and Jesse?"

"Oh, they're on the beach, in fact I think they're on their way back now," Mark said watching as two figures in the distance trudged through the sand, the taller one, Jack, carrying a surf board.

Jack and Jesse had been inseparable since the attack. Jack had spent a lot of time with Jesse as Jesse continued to recover in hospital and he found that they actually had a lot in common. They shared a very similar sense of humour and would spend hours laughing and joking, mostly at the expense of Steve.

Since leaving hospital, Jack had kept Jesse company at home, watching films and playing on the games console. And for the last few days Jesse had been trying to teach Jack how to surf.

"How did it go?" Steve asked when Jesse and Jack had finally joined them.

"Well he actually managed to stand on the board for about 30 seconds today, so that's an improvement I suppose," Jesse said with a smirk.

"Yeah well at least I can do a slam dunk on the basketball court titch," Jack retorted.

"Oi! You said you would quit with the short jokes!" Jesse exclaimed.

"Now, now children," Mark said laughing, "No need for arguments at the table."

"Yeah, sorry Jess," Jack said and ruffled Jesse's hair. Jesse quickly slapped Jack's hand away but still smiled.

After they had eaten the gang sat back and enjoyed the view. The distant calls of seagulls could be heard over the rolling waves and there was a cool breeze blowing, carrying the scent of the salty seawater. Jack looked around at his friends, all looking happy and content, and he thought there was no other place he would rather be right then.

* * *

"Oh Jack I really am going to miss you," Amanda said two hours later. They were sitting in the living room, as Jack waited for his taxi to take him to the airport. His suitcase stood alone by the front door.

"I know, me too, but I'm going to come down again as soon as I can," Jack said squeezing Amanda's hand.

"It's been great having you here," Mark said, "Just like the old days."

"You mean with the unsolved crime cases, murders and life-threatening situations?" Jack said with a laugh.

"Yeah," Jesse said, "Who wouldn't want a nice, relaxing holiday like that?"

Everyone laughed but were interrupted by a car horn.

"That must be my cab," Jack said sadly. The group walked with him outside to the taxi.

"Have a safe journey Jack," Steve said clapping his friend on the back, "It's been really good seeing you again."

"Yeah take care hun," Amanda said hugging Jack.

"And remember, don't ever be a stranger, you can come and stay anytime," Mark added, also giving Jack a hug.

"It's been great meeting you Jack," Jesse said, "And thanks again for saving my life and all that jazz," he added with a laugh.

"No problem," Jack said giving Jesse a one arm hug, "And don't forget to practise the basketball tricks I showed you. We will definitely be playing next time I'm down and I don't want to whoop your ass too quickly!"

"Ha! You wish!" Jesse said.

Jack climbed into the taxi and rolled down the window. "Bye," he said as the taxi started down the driveway. He watched as Mark, Amanda, Steve and Jesse waved as the car pulled onto the road and headed towards the airport.

"Good visit?" the taxi driver asked.

"Yeah," Jack replied, "You could say that." He smiled. They were so not going to believe what had happened to him when he went back to work.

The End


End file.
